Death Of Gallant
p. 15 · Read in the full issue
Missionary
Story of Rev. A. L.
Sadd
THE following was published in Sydney on December 11: LONDON, December 10.—The story of an English missionary’s courage in defy ing Japanese soldiers on Tarawa in 1942 has been told by a woman colleague who escaped Although threatened by bayonets, the missionary, Rev. Alfred Sadd, twice re fused to trample on the British flag when ordered to by the Japanese.
Instead, he gathered up the flag and kissed it, says the woman. “I was thrilled by his pride and courage.”
Later, Sadd and other Europeans were executed, after the Japanese had found that one of the prisoners had sent a wire less message to an Australian warship.
On October 15, 1942, twenty-two men were murdered by the Japs on Betio Islet, Tarawa. There were 17 New Zealand soldiers, and five Gilbert Islands residents —R. G. Morgan, a school teacher and a radio expert, the story of whose bravery cannot yet be told; B, Cleary, a medical officer who chose to remain and care for the natives; Captain I. R. Handley, a re tired master mariner, and a very gallant gentleman: A. M. McArthur, a trader, who was well-known and highly esteemed; and the Rev. A. L. Sadd, who refused to leave the LMS station at BerU when evacuation was ordered.